6 posts tagged “salvation”
Sorry I have been gone for...about 4 months. School this semester is much more time than I expected, and an xbox in my dorm room...doesn't exactly help my productivity. But I'm back, for now.
One thing that really has caught my attention as of late is the prevalence of tv shows and commercials promising salvation and redemption. It is as if everyone is allowed to talk about their hells, but Christians can't talk about the real Hell because it would offend people.
The first place I noticed this theme was on a commercial for people who were going bald. But let me do a quick rabbit trail. The opposite of Christianity is not atheism. It is idolatry. And in idolatry, we define for ourselves a hell. For instance, in this example, bald hell. You don't want to be in bald hell. No one will like you, you will have to buy your kids sunglasses if you live in California, because your head is SO shiny. You have to spend more money on hats because you are so embarrassed. Bald hell is a BAD place. And so what is the savior for this hell? Well, some hair product that will give you thicker hair, and cover up all those bald spots of course. And so that becomes your functional savior. You sacrifice time for it. You ascribe glory to it. You worship it and tell all your friends how great HAIRY hair worked for you (I made up the name, just as a place filler). Because it gives you salvation from bald hell.
And the commercials are just ridiculous. People claiming that their life is so much better because of this or that product, and that they have more peace and joy now that they aren't bald. The thing is that they aren't too far off the mark. They are praising a god for saving them, and giving them peace and joy. What they don't realize is that God has died for their salvation, if they would have it, and that He waits with opens hands, peace in one and joy in another.
Or take the tv show MADE on MTV (yes, sometimes I watch MTV...deep dark secret of mine). They take people who are unpopular and different from others. Then they make them into popular kids and people like them and one guy won the prom king crown, others have lost tons of weight. And they say that Eddie George, the host trainer ex-NFL running back, has just changed their life for the better forever. But they are essentially, at the core of it, still the same. Just as I am a wretched sinner, so are they. We are all wretched sinners. The Liberals who cry out for equality have it in Christianity. We are all equally horrible people, at our very core. We seek redemption. We seek improvement of life. We seek true "life-change," just like all the people on the show Beauty and the Geek and every other reality show, especially ones that are competing for money, where all the contestants claim that the million dollar prize will change their life forever.
Reading over this, it isn't very coherent. So I figure I will be coherent here instead. We seek salvation: let us seek Jesus. We seek peace: let us run after Jesus. We seek joy: let us long for communion with Jesus. For true salvation lies at his feet. Every other pursuit of a savior, outside of Jesus, is a form of idolatry. So let us fall to Jesus' feet, and worship him, for he is worthy to be praised. The him to be the glory for ever and ever, Amen.
Recently I was meditating Moses' song in Exodus 15, after the Israelites were delivered from the hands of the Egyptian military, and I was wondering at the meaning on the second verse, which says, "you are my strength and my song; you have become my salvation." (15:2) I focused on the last phrase: you have become my salvation. Now, in a strictly theological sense, I know that salvation is God's deliverance of the sinner from his slavery to sin into a new life with Jesus. But what does God becoming my salvation look like? How is God my salvation?
While normally translated salvation, another (sometimes more appropriate) translation of the Hebrew would be deliverance. This is actually where Paul receives his theology of salvation. It is not (as sometimes proposed), from the pagan slave trade, but from Israel's deliverance from the Egyptian bondage. But does God simply deliver us from the bondage of sin? I believe that to truly understand this theology of salvation, we must develop a fuller picture of God's deliverance for us.
The greatest news is that God delivered us from Satan and sin and hell and death. But a fuller picture of salvation brings in many of the other aspects of Jesus' work on the cross. As I meditated on this verse, I realized that God delivers us from much more than simply our sin:
- God delivers us from our past
- God delivers us from our defilement
While some of our soul's defilement is certainly our fault, God delivers us from the defilement that others have caused. Commonly known as expiation, this is wonderful news for a woman who has been defiled because of rape, or a child who has been nearby during a parents murder. God delivers us from the defilement of our souls.
- God delivers us from our present situation
Many times we are in situations that would cause us to stumble. But God is our salvation. He will "provide a way out, so that we might stand up under it." (1 Corinthians 10:13) Sometimes we cannot help the situation that develops around us, and so we must fall to God, asking him to deliver us.
- Ultimately, God's deliverance is in Jesus alone
The Hebrew word which is translated "salvation," is transliterated yeshua, which was a common name around the first century A.D. In fact, this name would then be translated into Greek as the well-known name "Jesus," literally meaning "the Lord saves." This connection becomes most poignant at the close of the Last Supper, when they sing a hymn (Matthew 26:30), which would traditionally be the end of the Hallel, which is sung throughout the Jewish Seder. The final Psalm of the Hallel is Psalm 118, which says, "you have become my salvation (yeshua)." (v. 21) After this was uttered, Jesus began his passion, thus truly becoming the salvation of all who believed. If we want salvation, we must turn to Jesus, for Peter spoke truly in front of the Sanhedrin when he said, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
If we look for salvation, it can only be found in Jesus. And so let us fall to his feet, for he is our deliverer.
"When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said "Repent", He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance."
-Martin Luther, first of the Ninety-Five Theses
The beginning of the Reformation was a call to repentance. This is hardly a realization that I came upon, but I want to take this to heart. Indeed, the very beginning of the teaching of Jesus, the first recorded word in Matthew as Jesus begins his ministry is "repent." (Matthew 4:17) Indeed, as Martin Luther teaches, our entire life needs to be one of repentance. Indeed, when Jesus said "repent," it was not a request. It was a command. In the KJV, it says, "repent ye," showing it clearly to be in the command (to be sure, the greek verb is in the active imperative, meaning that it is a command that should keep happening continually). With that in mind, I know that I cannot call others to repentance until I myself do, or else I am guilty of the plank-speck folly (Mt. 7:4-5).
I want to publicly repent of:
Pride: too often I turn my nose up at someone because they don't read as much as I do, or they don't know a certain theologian, or this or that. I rate myself compared to others in many ways, but always giving myself the vast benefit of the doubt. I repent. I ask you (the three people who read this) to hold me to it. I do not want to be arrogant. I know I have been in the past on this blog and in real life. I am truly sorry. I repent.
Lust: This is particularly painful, because there is the easy excuse that almost every guy suffers from it. But I know that Christ calls me to a higher standard, the standard of Job 31:1 ("I have made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully upon a woman") and the standard of Ephesians 5:3 (" among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality"). Also, I am hoping and praying to one day (by God's grace) be a husband and a father. And this sin especially is so often generational, I do not want my kids struggling as I do. And so I repent and walk away from this publicly. With God's help I can overcome this.
Hypocrisy: Because of the above two, I have sometimes been a hypocrite. I call others to account, knowing that I have crap in my life. I repent also of this. For this is the most vile, and has its root in pride. I have made my knowledge and my relative "goodness" my functional savior, which is also Idolatry, the most heinous of sins. I repent of this as well.
I stand (actually, I am sitting, but you know) before you a sinful man. Desperately in need of grace. If it just ended here, it would be a sad story. But it isn't. Because Jesus is the end of this story, and indeed the story of the whole universe. You see, Jesus of Nazareth lived the life I could not live, and died the death I should have died, so that I might be forgiven, and walk in the newness of life (Romans 6).
And now to HIM, who can do immeasurable more than we can ask, think, or even imagine, in his great and glorious name, the name by which men are saved, the powerful name of our Lord Jesus Christ, for from Him and through Him and to Him are all things, and to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. So help us. Amen.
This week, I was listening to a sermon by Mark Driscoll, the pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, and a man that I greatly respect for knowing his calling as a pastor and a man of God. He was admonishing the men to be more like the patriarchs of the Old Testament. Now, I know that patriarchy gets a bad rap, but stay with me here. I don't have the time nor the space here to defend the importance of men who are patriarchs. But honestly, it is important. Part of being a patriarch is being farsighted; not thinking in terms of days and weeks, but of decades and generations. When I heard this admonition, it struck me to the core. The calling to pray for the generations after you that bear your name. Not that salvation is generational or associative (unless you count associating with Jesus), but it is clear in the Bible that sin is indeed generational. And so being a patriarch is realizing that your actions of moving towards or away from Christ do not just affect you, but instead that they affect ten and twenty generations of men after you. I realized that I did not want to have my children and my childrens children and their children, etc., suffering under the same shackles of sin that I am opressed and entrapped by. And so I threw myself at the feet of Jesus, and began taking my role as a patriarch seriously. I needed to become farsighted, and make decisions for ten and twenty generations of men that bear my name.
While I was discussing this with my girlfriend, I realized something kind of all of a sudden: In regards to Christian men, we are divided into two distinct categories (I realize it is not this clean, but still its darn close). There are men who act like Lot and men who act like Abraham. Now Lot was still delivered by God in the end, but his life was hardly devoted to God as much as Abraham's was. He went and lived near Sodom (Gen. 13:12), but not to seek the transformation of the city of Sodom, but to indulge in it. I think of all the times where I have been places, not because I wanted to share the transforming grace of the Lord Jesus Christ with the people around me, but instead to indulge in the "pleasures of life." Even if it was innocent and not technically sinning, my heart was in the wrong place, and my sins of omission were great. Then there are another group of men: those who realize that they are not living for themselves, but for the many generations that follow their family line. They share the name of "Abraham," which means, "father of many nations." These men are called to a higher standard, and fall to the feet of the Lord asking for help and power and the ability to see it through. It is not that, in sotierological terms (in terms of their salvation) they are any different. God delivered both of them from many trials and dangers. But their overall legacy is quite different. Lot was literally one who "himself was saved, but only as one escaping through the flames." (1 Cor 3:15) However, Abraham is the father of our Faith, the first man to be found righteous because of his faith. From him spans the chosen people, the Israelites, and then finally the Saviour of the elect, Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Christ. What greater legacy could have Abraham had? And how short did Lot sell himself by indulging in the "pleasures" of Sodom, whatever they may have been.
I want to urge those men who are following the path of Lot: the most peaceful and sombering, and yet Spirit-filled trail lies not with his way. Follow the footsteps of our great patriarch, Abraham, for we are called children of Abraham if we love Jesus (John 8) We are called to a higher standard. Realize that whatever you do affects not only you, but sets a precedent for many future generations to come. Do you want the men of your line to be like you? Most likely not, and I can tell you that I do not want the men from my line to suffer the same entanglements of sin. We are called to a higher standard as men of God. Let us step up, and become farsighted patriarchs, teaching our sons to love the Lord Jesus Christ, and loving our wives (or future wives) and setting a precedent for men around us.
And rest knowing that we must rely on the Lord Jesus, who can do more than we can ask, think, or even imagine. In the name of Jesus. Amen. So help us. Amen.
Throughout the Gospel of John, there are seven I AM statements made by Jesus. Since in the Jewish scriptures, known as the Old Testament of the Bible, God identifies himself as the I AM (Exodus 3:14), these statements by Jesus are proclamations of Jesus' diety. Although John was writing this book to a primarily Greek audience, it is clear that he was so impacted by these statements that he could not afford to leave them out of his account of Jesus' life and ministry. While the first I AM statement appears in John 6:35, the proper context for this statement must be established.
Feeding the Five Thousand
The context for Jesus declaring himself as the bread of life is set by him giving five thousand men (not including women and children) a meal of barley loaves and fish. This miracle was set to the backdrop of the Passover feast (6:4), and prompted the people to declare, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world." (v. 14) While the context of the Passover is important in understanding this, as they remembered the deliverance of the Jewish people from the yoke of slavery and looked forward to the final deliverance from oppression, this speculation that Jesus was the Prophet is based on a passage from Deuteronomy, which declares, "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him." (Deuteronomy 18:15) In recalling this passage to memory, they speculated on the possibility that Jesus was the promised prophet, the man God promised that "I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him." (18:18b) This is why they were so eager to find him the next day, for they wanted the instruction of the promised Prophet of God. And so they search, and find him in Capernaum.
"I AM the Bread of Life"
When the people find Jesus at the other side of the water, he realizes why they are there. Then he gives them a very interesting admonition: "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you." The reference to work here is an allusion to the curse passed down because of Original Sin, when God declares in Genesis 3:17, "through painful toil you will eat of it [the earth]." He addresses the curse of Original Sin, and then speaks of a time when that curse has been lifted, or taken by another (indeed, he will take upon the curse when he dies on a tree, a cursed way to die according to Jewish tradition and Levitical law).
After he gives them this admontion, they ask the question they have been saving for the Prophet promised in Deuteronomy 18: "What must we do to do the works God requires?" (John 6:28) Essentially, they want to know the starting point. Because if we try to simply do the works God requires, we fail miserably. And so how can we put ourselves in a position to do good? Jesus' answer is this: "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." He focuses on this as the beginning and end. And it truly is. The word here "to believe" is actually pisteuo in the greek, which is a derivative of pistis, the greek word for faith. And so we refer to Romans 1:17 "The righteous shall live by faith." Like a good Reformed theologian, I cannot emphasize this enough. We are saved by faith alone, through grace alone, IN CHRIST ALONE. Believing in Jesus is the easiest and hardest thing to do. It looks quite simple on paper; but if we truly believe in Jesus as the Messiah and Savior, we must acknowledge our sin, and his supremacy and sovereignty over our lives.
After Jesus commands belief in him as the work of God, the Jewish people retort, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you?" This is the ultimate irony, because Jesus declares four verses earlier, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw
miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill." He had already given them a miraculous sign, but being hard of heart, they demanded another one. This has an important application: too many times we set our belief on God on the condition that he "show himself to us." The irony is that he has revealed himself to the whole world (Romans 1), and in asking for a sign we are being hard of heart.
Later on in this conversation, the Jewish people say, "give us this bread [the bread of life]." He then says, "I am the bread of life." This is very multidimensional. First, it alludes to the tree of life, which sat in the center of Eden. The great tragedy of mankind is that in choosing between the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life, we chose Knowledge over Life. I am not saying that knowledge is bad; I am simply saying that when you can have life, why eat anything else?
Jesus finishes his testimony with the most boggling of declarations: "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." What could he possibly mean, to eat and drink his flesh and blood? I cannot add anything to the Commentary of Matthew Henry, and so I will simply cite his text on this verbatim:
"What is meant by eating this flesh and drinking this blood, which is so necessary and beneficial; it is certain that is means neither more nor less than believing in Christ. As we partake of meat and drink by eating and drinking, so we partake of Christ and his benefits by faith: and believing in Christ includes these four things, which eating and drinking do:—First, It implies an appetite to Christ. This spiritual eating and drinking begins with hungering and thirsting (Matthew 5:6)["Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied"], earnest and importunate desires after Christ, not willing to take up with any thing short of an interest in him: "Give me Christ or else I die." Secondly, An application of Christ to ourselves. Meat looked upon will not nourish us, but meat fed upon, and so made our own, and as it were one with us. We must so accept of Christ as to appropriate him to ourselves: my Lord, and my God, John 20:28. Thirdly, A delight in Christ and his salvation. The doctrine of Christ crucified must be meat and drink to us, most pleasant and delightful. We must feast upon the dainties of the New Testament in the blood of Christ, taking as great a complacency in the methods which Infinite Wisdom has taken to redeem and save us as ever we did in the most needful supplies or grateful delights of nature. Fourthly, A derivation of nourishment from him and a dependence upon him for the support and comfort of our spiritual life, and the strength, growth, and vigour of the new man. To feed upon Christ is to do all in his name, in union with him, and by virtue drawn from him; it is to live upon him as we do upon our meat. How our bodies are nourished by our food we cannot describe, but that they are so we know and find; so it is with this spiritual nourishment."
Therefore, let us partake of Christ, to be so intimate with him that it is as if we are eating his very flesh. Let us participate in his suffering. And let us know, that He is the bread of life. Let us not work needlessly for things that perish, but let us partake in that which Christ gives us, the salvation of our very souls.
Recently on this blog, I received my first comment, which frankly, Therese, made me estatic. I was happy that anyone would read the disconnected writings of some obscure bearded guy.
In it, I came across a phrase the deserved blogging: the revolt against the idea "once saved, always righteous." I wanted to say a few things on this, because this is a deep pit, and all kinds of ridiculous heresies come out of a misunderstanding of righteousness and sin. Hopefully my writings are not one of these heresies; if this becomes one, I will quickly remove it, and expunge it.
I received the comment on the entry of mine called, "On Being a Criminal," in which I argued that in order to be a christian, we must continually embrace our criminality, for Jesus saves us from ourselves. I firmly believe that one must understand his sin before he is able to turn to Christ; otherwise, there is no need nor necessity for Christ at all.
However, once we come to Christ, a wonderful thing happens. This justice of God, which stood in our just condemnation, since we were sinners, instead affirms us. A.W. Tozer, one of the great twentieth century theologians, puts it this way:
“[The Christian doctrine of redemption] is that, through the work of Christ in atonement, justice is not violated but satisfied when God spares a sinner…When infinite equity encountered our chronic and willful in-equity, there was violent war between the two, a war which God won and must always win. But when the penitent sinner casts himself upon Christ for salvation, the moral situation is reversed. Justice confronts the changed situation and pronounces the believing man just."
The key is that, for all intents and purposes, a Christian is justified by Christ. We fall to our knees in front of Him, and we cry, "You are my Lord," and his righteousness is imputed, or credited, to us. And so once we are saved, we are legally righteous, because we are remade in Christ. Therefore, we are no longer sinners - our character and nature is not sin.
However, this does not mean, sadly, that we stop sinning. Paul, one of the most influential men in the early church, said this: "For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing." (Romans 7:19) Clearly, he sinned. And when we sin, we must repent. And God will pour out his grace on us. For God's grace is by necessity infinite.
Let us not think of ourselves more highly than we ought. (Romans 12) Because we are made righteous by Christ, let us not boast as if we are righteous through our own works. Instead of standing on top of the world looking down, and thus sinning, confirming our sinfulness, let us boast in our weaknesses. For if we boast of our goodness, we fall into the Corinthian error of not remembering the past. Whenever Paul goes through a vice list, he usually finishes it with, "and so were some of you, once," as if to remind us that we were once steeped in sin.
I believe that once we become Christians, we are always righteous, because I believe in the perseverance of the saints, like any good Calvinist. However, I also belive that some who call themselves Christian or follow for some time and fall away, were never truly Chrstian in the first place. We are always righteous when we dwell in Jesus; but it is not because of our goodness, but instead because of Christ's righteousness, that we are righteous. We continue to sin, but because of Christ's words, "I am making all things new," we are continuing to be remade in Christ's likeness, and therefore continually being righteous.
Let us embrace Jesus, let us fix our eyes on Him, that we might not grow weary.
And thank you once again Therese, for providing in two sentences enough material for about two pages of blog.
